Bible Strands
Isaiah 33:23
Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses Zion, contrasting the LORD's absolute authority as Judge, Lawgiver, and King with the imminent collapse of the opposing army.
The words — נִטְּשׁ֖וּ (ni.te.Shu) means "they are loose," and חֲבָלָ֑יִ/ךְ (cha.va.La.yi/kh) denotes "your ropes," describing rigging that fails to secure the mast or spread the sail.
The thread — The motif of routed forces leaving plunder for the weak appears in 2 Kings 7:8, where lepers seize the abandoned camp, and in Psalms 68:12, where a woman at home divides the spoils of fleeing kings.
Why it lands — The text states that divine judgment renders human defenses useless, ensuring victory goes to the weak rather than the strong, and demands the reader acknowledge that salvation and spoils come solely from God's intervention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 7:8 When the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they carried off the silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. On returning, they entered another tent, carried off some items from there, and hid them.
- Psalms 68:12 “Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder.
- 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- 1 Samuel 30:10 because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.
- 1 Samuel 30:22 but all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered, except for each man’s wife and children. They may take them and go.”
- 2 Kings 7:16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.
- 2 Chronicles 20:25 Then Jehoshaphat and his people went to carry off the plunder, and they found on the bodies an abundance of goods and valuables—more than they could carry away. They were gathering the plunder for three days because there was so much.
- Isaiah 33:1 Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
- Isaiah 33:4 Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.
- Isaiah 33:21 But there the Majestic One, our LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass.